


Legendary Defenders Online

by badwritinghabits



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, M/M, Sword Art Online AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 17:51:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwritinghabits/pseuds/badwritinghabits
Summary: When a new vitrual reality video game, Legendary Defenders Online, comes out using a new technology, NerveGear, to let characters go into the game, thousands try it out, ready for a great adventure.In a horrible twist of fate the players discover that they can't log out, but they can die. To escape they have to beat the game, all one hundred levels of it.





	

Lance lifted his bow, his long fingers gently pulling back the string. He breathed out and released. The arrow tore across the field in front of him and lodged itself into the eye of a boar 50 metres away.

The creature shattered into blue fragments and a notice popped up in front of lance.

_"Sharp Shooter Achievement, 21 XP Bonus"_  
_"Field Boar, Defeated, 19 XP Bonus"_  
_"Level Up! You are now Level Two"_

"Oh! Nice work!" Hunk grinned slapping Lance on the back heartily. Lance stumbled a little and thought about how he was thankful nothing could hurt them in this world for a moment. He usually had bruises on his should thanks to Hunk's friendly fire.

"Thanks buddy, now it's your turn," Lance grinned, closing the notice.

Hunk nodded and the pair approached a nearby boar. Hunk's hammer, which was bigger and heavier than Lance himself, was lifted into the air, resting on Hunk's shoulder.

Lance picked up a stone and threw it, nicking the boars hind. The creature reared and spun around, charging towards the boys. Hunk swung his hammer into the boars large head and shattered the creature.

"Oh shit!" Lance laughed bouncing on his feet. "One hit! Man we're gonna be the best! Lance and Hunk, Long and Short Range Masters!"

Hunk smiled sheepishly. Already they were doing well. Lance was level two, and Hunk soon to follow. The game around them was incredible and beautiful. The details were so precise, Lance could swear he smelt the grass.

Unfortunately the game did not help you with real life stuff, like hunger or needing the toilet.

"We should log out," Lance commented checking the time. "It's nearly five and our pizza will be here soon."

"Yes!" Hunk cheered, punching the air. "Oh man I'm so excited for this!"

Lance laughed and opened his menu. A cold feeling swept over him as he stared at the button for logging out, his finger hovering over it.  
_____

It was blank.

Shiro's finger hesitated over the button and he frowned.

"Where is it?" He asked drawing his partner's attention.

Galrakat put his gladius away and stepped closer to him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

 

"I can't find the log out button," Shiro replied turning to him. "Open your menu. It should be under settings at the bottom."

Galrakat did as asked and scowled. "There's nothing, just a blank space."

"What's going on? Is it a glitch?" Shiro tried contacting the game master. "No reply."

He tried again. A bad feeling brewed in the pit of Shiro's stomach.

Galrakat watched Shiro. "If it was a glitch wouldn't a message be sent out?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm worried. We should -" Shiro was cut off as a bell rang from the central city. It could be heard throughout all of the game floor and was followed by an eerie silence.

Galrakat opened his mouth to say something but was enveloped by the familiar blue light of a teleport. The world around Shiro vanished as he followed.

\-------

Pidge blinked as the blue light faded from his eyes.

Why had he been teleported to the main hub? Just minutes ago he had been wandering about the town looking for another inventor quest.

It looked like all the players in the game had been forced to the hub. A beeping filled the air and Pidge looked up. A panel of the sky was missing, replaced with a red flashing alert. A reminder that his world was just a game.

_Warning._

The whole crowd was alive with noise. Suddenly the whole sky turned red, like domino's spreading out from the first red panel. The town was drowned in red light.

Pidge's chest tightened. A dark inky substance oozed from the cracks of the panels. As they dropped they linked together, forming a humanoid figure with no face.

"Is this an event?" Someone near Pidge mumbled.

"Is that the game master?" Another commented.

 **"Players,"** the figure addressed them. **"Welcome to my world. My name is Zarkon Drule. As of right now, I am the only person who can control this world."**

Noise broke out in the crowd and Pidge stared hard at the figure. Zarkon Drule? Pidge was a big fan, having studied all aspects of NerveGear and Zarkon, who was actually the creator Legendary Defender Online.

 **"I'm sure many of you have noticed, the log out button is missing from the menu."** He continued. Pidge's eyes widened and he opened the menu to check it out himself. **"However this is not a defect in the game. I assure you all, this is meant to be. It is a feature of Legendary Defender Online. You cannot log out of LDO. And no one outside of LDO can remove or shut down the NerveGear. If this is attempted, the transmitter will emit a powerful microwave that will kill you."**

Gasps and fear was spreading through the crowd. Some people tried to leave the main hub of the town, but were stopped by a barrier.

"Huh? He's got to be kidding?" Pidge turned to the boy next to her.

"He can't do that can he?" Another boy asked.

"Well, he's not wrong that the transmitters signals work like microwaves," Pidge commented, the two boys looking at her. "If the safety is off the NerveGear can totally fry a brain."

"Huh!?" The first boy gasped.

"But what if the power was cut?" The other asks leaning over a little. "Wait no, NerveGear has an internal battery doesn't it."

Pidge nodded solemnly.

 **"Unfortunately,"** the game master resumed his speech as people started getting louder. They fell into a hush. **"Several families and friends of players have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 of the original 10,000 players have died, both in Aincrad and the Real World. News stations around the world are reporting this, including the deaths. Thus you can assume that the danger of NerveGear being removed is non existential."**

A dozen screens appeared, floating around showing all the players what was happening on the news programs and websites.

"I don't believe this," the first boy huffed, crossing his arms.

"You better," Pidge said quietly. He pointed to a screen showing a young man and his father crying behind a police barrier. "That's my brother and father."

"Oh."

 **"I hope you will relax and feel better about attempting to clear the game. But I want you to remember this."** Zarkon said. **"There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever, and the NerveGear will destroy your brain."**

The crowd was silent.

 **"The only way to escape is to clear the game. You are currently on Floor 1 of Aincrad."** Zarkon explained. **"You must make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss before advancing to the next floor. Defeat the final boss on the hundredth floor and you clear the game, freeing everyone."**

Complaints filled the crowd.

"You can't do that!"

"That's impossible!"

 **"Finally,"** the game master said. **"I've added a present to you inventories. Please see for yourselves."**

Pidge opened his inventory. _Mirror_.

"Huh?" He summoned it and found it was a small hand held mirror. He looked up in shock as everyone around was enveloped in light, him included. When the light cleared eveyrone looked different. Beside him the two men were just boys in their teens.

Pidge looked in her mirror and saw not her avatar, but herself. Her short hair, only just recently cut and still quite messy, her nose, her eyes, her face. She was shorter again too.

"What the?" She exclaimed. "How did they know what we looked like?!"

"The scan!" The bigger boy said. "Remember when we were setting up our NerveGear is asked us to pat our bodies down. Like this."

He patted down his arms. His friend nodded and copied his actions. "Yeah that's right."

 **"But why, you must be asking,"** Zarkon said drawing everyone's attention back to him. **"This has always been my goal. To create a world and intervene in it. And now it is complete. Thus ends the tutorial for Legendary Defenders Online. Please, enjoy, and fight to survive."**

With that the figure started melting back into the red liquid and pulled back into the sky. The red alert signals disappeared with a flash, revealing a setting sun. The hub was quiet for a few seconds.

Then everything happened. People started crying or screaming. Heaps of people rushed forwards yelling in rage. People fell or were knocked to the ground.

Pidge was knocked over and the two boys quickly came to her aid. "Come on, lets get outta the way."

The barriers around the hub lifted and the three quickly escaped.

"What are we supposed to do?" Pidge muttered. He started shaking.

"Hey, don't worry man, we'll be fine. The three of us stick together and we'll be fine." One of the boys knelt by her as they rested in a back alley. "I'm Lance, what's your name?"

"Pidge," she replied taking a deep breath. She could see Lance was shaking too.

"Hey Pidge, I'm Hunk," the bigger boy introduced himself, kneeling down as well.

"We're gonna be fine, lets think about this," Lance said. "We should move to the next town as soon as possible."

"What why?" Pidge asked.

"Cos all the hunting grounds here are gonna be over run and will quickly be emptied. It would be better if we more to the next town and start there. I'm level two, Hunk nearly is, the three of us should be able to manage."

"I'm not a very good fighter," Pidge commented.

"That's fine, I'm a great sharp shooter, and Hunk's got this great big hammer, he killed a boar with one hit just earlier today." Lance reassured her. "But if you don't want to come, you can stay here. You'll be safe in town, we can't die in the towns."

Pidge thought about it. She thought about the faces of her Father and brother, how they were crying on the street. Her stomach churned and determination flooded her.

"I'll go." She said. "But wait, do you know the way?"

"Yep, Hunk and I both played the beta test," Lance replied. "We'll be great."

"Yeah but we should leave now if we're gonna leave," Hunk said opening his menu. "Let's make a group, just so we don't loose each other."

Pidge stood up and after they grouped up, the three of them started running towards the edge of town. Pidge was filled with fear and anger and determination. He may not be the best fighter, but he would beat the game. He had to. His brother and father needed him.


End file.
